The evaluation of stress intensity factors of plane crack for orthotropic plate with equal parameter by F2LFEM

In this paper, the evaluation of stress intensity factor of plane crack problems for orthotropic plate of equal-parameter is investigated using a fractal two-level finite element method (F2LFEM). The general solution of an orthotropic crack problem is obtained by assimilating the problem with isotropic crack problem, and is employed as the global interpolation function in F2LFEM. In the neighborhood of crack tip of the crack plate, the fractal geometry concept is introduced to achieve the similar meshes having similarity ratio less than one and generate an infinitesimal mesh so that the relationship between the stiffness matrices of two adjacent layers is equal. A large number of degrees of freedom around the crack tip are transformed to a small set of generalized coordinates. Numerical examples show that this method is efficient and accurate in evaluating the stress intensity factor (SIF). © 2006 The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.